Assault on Fort de Fiegnies

McMaster WWI Trench Maps & Aerial Photos  55' - 17' approx. 

This week we had the opportunity to play a multi player 1914 game with the Germans defending a fort position against a combined force of Belgium and French forces. 

In the end the Belgium's were very nearly  achieved the objective by a swift manoeuvre around to the rear of the German positions. Alas  Martin's Belgium's cracked under the weight of German fire. 

Starting positions. 

On the French front the main objective was to get over the river and take the German trench line, following that,  to kick on to the main objective of the fort. 
To this end they charged up the two roads crossing the river. With the regiment on the right supported by a regiment of artillery, located at the bottom left of the photograph above.  the second infantry regiment had a Cavalry regiment  in support. I felt I had an good opportunity of making a break through in one of the positions. 

German trench line. 

Things started well when my pre plotted artillery destroyed two german units in the opening rounds, nevertheless despite this early success this frontal assault proved to be a bloody affair. With the regiment needing to take moral tests on two occasions due to causalities. Luckily they passed on both occasions meaning they could stay in combat. 

French advance.

Despite these loses I was able to exploit the breach in the German line and push my regiment of artillery through the breach which then could bring pressure to bear on the German  flank. Sadly it did not force them to retreat.

French 75s unlimber.

After three hours of play  despite not having taking the main objective of the fort I think it is fair  to say that  that we can hold out for a draw! 

End position.

Alan adds: 

A stalemate has developed in the north, with German infantry in the forest facing-off French cavalry and infantry in Feignies itself.  It was felt unlikely the French would make much more progress on this front.

They did break through the German trench line on the southern front.  At the bottom of the photo their 75s can just be seen deployed to the east of the stream.  However, the French took high casualties in this sector and were prob not in sufficient strength to retake the fort.

Photo credit: Alan

                             

Hunnic Command Groups

I finished these Hunnic command groups sometime ago and was not over joyed with the way they turned out its all a bit monotone and undefined.  I suspect it all started to go wrong when I inadvertently created a Hunnic elf by painting a red hat on green coated figure. 

I feel I struggled with these command groups because I did not fully visualise the completed look figures prior to starting  to paint. 

    

After a break  I went  back  to the  figures and restarted on the command groups.  and this is what  we see now.  

The Lurkio starter army provides  three command groups with it's FoG starter army  added to this is a Germanic  which  once mixed up are passably  Hunnic command group which offers a touch of variety to the command bases. 

Worth noting at this juncture that  these Lurkio Huns are of a really high standard. The horses and men on the are beautifully sculpted to include a high level of detail. The figure are split at the waist  which allows you  to get a real variety  of poses.

Monday Night Mayhem

I managed a spot of Monday night mayhem at central London last week.  My Early Imperial Romans had their first outing of 2014  against Simon's Early Successors.   It is a fairly even fight between legions and pike blocks. So it is often down to who can utilise their other units best to get the upper hand. For this game I made some simple promises to myself which were to make a plan and  then stick to it. Easy enough one would think. 

Thankfully my deployment forced Simon to squeeze his army into just under half the board. This caused him serious problems in organising his battle line and meant he could not take advantage of his superior numbers and quality on the right flank. 

I had to  readjust my line to attempt to counter his strong flank. In doing this I over advanced on the left and did not leave enough space for my cavalry  to  put pressure on the right. 

 On the left was where the skirmishers met for their own private skirmish. Simon had two units of light horse against a unit of horse archers and a battle group of slingers. I used my advantage of greater range and focused my attacks on individual enemy battle groups to try to gain some sort of advantage. Luckily it worked out in my favour.

I had in reserve some roman cavalry to chase down one of Simon light horse units and then  swing around to the rear of his pikes.

The combat  between the main bodies of troops was pretty conclusive within a couple of rounds this was mainly due to really great dice which resulting in Simon’s pike blocks fracturing before he had the opportunity  to bring to bear this superior forces on the right flank. In the end I was pleased to claim a welcome victory, losing only a single base.